


Coin

by VolxdoSioda



Category: GreedFall (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, undead!Nauts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22206508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: De Sardet offers a question to the Captain of the Sea Horse.Captain Vasco offers a deal.
Relationships: De Sardet & Vasco (GreedFall)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Coin

The glint of gold dances across the back of Captain Vasco's fingers; skeletal bone, scrubbed clean by crabs and other small predators, even as the kelp and algae take over his uniform. Around him, his crew shifts and sways with the turn of the tide, unaffected by the gusting winds and lashing rain. A hurricane is on the horizon. It won't affect the Nauts, but it will affect the port. 

"Well now," he says, and in place of his accented tenor is a harsh, grating rasp from a throat no longer holding vocal cords. "Legate De Sardet. To _what _do we _mere sailors _owe such a pleasure?"

A few clacking hisses and baritone barks meant to constitute laughter come out. De Sardet, rather than show offense, sweeps his hat off his head and bows deeply. "Captain Vasco, on behalf of the Congregation, I come seeking your council on a rather delicate matter. The Nauts are masters of the sea and ocean, and know the tides best."

Vasco's fingers pause. "And this matter is...?"

"Travel. The amount of time and lives it would take to cross to Tir Fradi in three weeks, to be precise."

Vasco's jaw clacks, and in the silence it sounds like the harsh rapport of a gun going off. "Is someone offering to ferry you there?"

"Indeed. The Alliance insists they can get us to Tir Fradi in a quarter of the time it would normally take one of your ships. They have spent the last two months swearing a blue streak to my uncle that no cargo or persons would be lost in the journey, and that we would arrive completely unscathed. My uncle wishes to know the opinions of men who were born, and have died on these seas."

Vasco leans back on his heels. The ship sways harsher, a gust of wind nearly knocking De Sardet over, but he holds his ground, moving with it rather than against it to stay upright. 

"I suppose," Vasco says, after a time, piercing white eyes burning into De Sardet, "If you were of the mind to make offerings to the Mother Sea, that would be the finest way to go. Granted, you could also sail with us, and we would at least attempt to make pleasant conversation and keep you comfortable during your last few moments of life before we tossed you overboard."

De Sardet smiles thinly. "Yes," he says softly. "That is rather what I thought. But my uncle wants proof. So, numbers, and details, if you would be so kind, Captain?"

"Three weeks would land you halfway there, in the Octavian Reef. Or the Reef of Spears, as it's so charmingly called," Vasco starts, and De Sardet _listens, _committing his words and voice to memory. "Assuming those two-faced sons of snakes are actually able to navigate around a goat's arse, you _may _make it through the first set of reefs, which are wide-set. A Naut could sail them blind. You'll come across the second set next, and it stretches from that point until nearly a quarter of your remaining time to Tir Fradi. So, let's assume you have a _capable _helmsmen on board. He won't run you into the reefs, at least not on purpose. But unless he's charted the waters, he won't know where the deeper reefs are. And he won't know how to avoid the mermaids."

"So the stories are true, then."

"Oh they're true," Vasco assures him. "Two colonies of mermaids guard that reef, De Sardet. If you offer them the right gift, they'll let you go through unmolested. We've been through that reef enough that they recognize us, and occasionally, if we... overpay, shall we say, offer us charity. A free ride through. But your Alliance members have played with mermaids before, haven't they? So, a capable helmsmen. But that won't be enough. Mermaids can smell the death of their own on a person. They'd drag your ship to the rocks, or enlist the help of the sirens from the deeper waters. Maybe you'd all climb out of the boat and drop to your deaths. Maybe you'd fit yourselves in the lifeboats, and let them eat you, one at a time, while you sit there under the siren's song. Or maybe your captain would jump overboard, and leave you to crash onto the reef, and sink. A slow, brutal death."

In the silence, the coin goes back to dancing across Vasco's fingers, the sound of metal against bone almost soothing. 

"So. If you say yes, make sure that whoever you put on that boat are people you want dead. Because that's about all you're going to get. They will never make it to Tir Fradi. Not without payment, not without charting and navigation."

"Not without a Naut," De Sardet says quietly, and Vasco nods.

"Not without a Naut," he agrees. "I hope that answers your question."

"It does. I will tell my uncle what you have told me. Thank you again, Captain. I wish you and yours fair winds, and golden shores." He sweeps into a bow again, and goes to leave the ship. He's only just stepped onto the gangplank when Vasco's voice calls out behind him.

"De Sardet!"

He stops.

"We'll be back in port in two moons. If your uncle wants to travel to Tir Fradi, we'll take him."

"Not him," De Sardet says, turning. "Me."

"You?" If he'd had eyebrows, they would have gone up. As it is, Vasco looks around at his crew. "And what else?"

"Nothing. That's it. He wants me to go to Tir Fradi as their legate."

"To avoid the malichor that took the life of your cousin."

De Sardet doesn't flinch. He's stopped doing that. But he smiles, a hair too bright. "Perhaps."

Vasco nods, seemingly to himself. "We'll be back in two moons. Prepare yourself, and then come see us at midnight. I vow on my word as captain, you will reach Tir Fradi whole, intact, unharmed, and sane."

"And what is your charge?" It is one thing to bargain with the Nauts when they wear human flesh beneath the sun. But in the depths of the night, their true faces come out - and the undead never bargain. They only take. "If it is my soul, I'm afraid I will have to decline. I know we legates are meant to be soulless, but I don't think its literal."

That sets the crew to a chuckle. Vasco waves a hand. "Hardly. The price is nothing so high. How's your pain tolerance?"

"Tolerable." He thinks on what Vasco has said. "You intend to claim your prize once we reach Tir Fradi, don't you?"

"A sharp one. Good. Let me make another promise, then. You will reach Tir Fradi whole, intact, unharmed, and sane. And then you will go on to be legate to Tir Fradi in the same way. Rather, what my price is will be an addition to your daily life, rather than a subtraction. No limbs, no soul, no heart."

De Sardet wracks his brain, and then his breath catches. Vasco nods. 

"You know what I want, little legate. So. Two moons. If you don't present yourself, I'll assume you don't need to go to Tir Fradi so badly after all. And be aware, this is a one-time offer. After this, it will be much more than a few markings - perhaps some eternal servitude aboard the boat instead."

The undead do not give. But sometimes what they take isn't always immediately apparent. Loss of freedom, after all, is so hard to measure when one person's freedom is another person's imprisonment. 

"Two moons," De Sardet says softly. "I will see you then, Captain Vasco and crew. Safe travels."

"Safe travels," the voices of the dead call back, and when De Sardet steps back onto the docks, the gangplank draws up, and the ship sails out to sea.

Moments later, it vanishes into the mist.


End file.
